This hour, we look at the spread of measles in the United States. We also talk to health and science communicators who are working to tell the story of that disease in new ways.

GUESTS:

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo: Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown School of Public Health, and a Professor of Epidemiology
Brinda Adhikari: Award-winning executive producer, showrunner and journalist, who is Co-Host of the "Why Should I Trust You?" podcast
Teri Mills: Retired nurse educator, grandmother, and Board member and Vice President of Media for Grandparents for Vaccines

The world-renowned health financing expert brings extensive international development leadership to the Pandemic Center at Brown University

Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida who is running for governor, has blamed “rampant illegal immigration” during the Biden administration for measles outbreaks. But we found no link to illegal immigration in several recent large outbreaks, and infectious disease experts told us that the main driver of the cases is falling measles vaccination rates in the U.S.

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Measles-linked deaths recorded since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office have surpassed those recorded in the previous 20 years combined.

Since 2025, there have been five confirmed deaths related to measles—three CDC-confirmed measles deaths in 2025 and two deaths in 2026.

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Public health officials say with the rise of conspiracy thinking at the highest echelons of our national government, the next pandemic response could be so much worse. But they did have one potentially innovative and surprising, if disconcerting, solution to our national public health information crisis: A.I. has the potential to help stave off a conspiratorial catastrophe during the next pandemic.

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Center’s Tracking Report brings vital information to readers everywhere
PROVIDENCE — “Public distrust of public health guidance from the government is being fueled by what seems to be a never-ending, ubiquitous — and dangerous — current of phony science and false claims,” Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo states in the Pandemic Center 2025-26 Impact Report.

As kids embark on a new school year, newly released data shows that more kindergartners are heading to class with vaccine exemptions.

Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of Brown University's Pandemic Center, said that rise in vaccine exemptions is enough to cause concerns about disease outbreaks in schools.

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Accelerating Defence and Health Capabilities for Medical Countermeasures Readiness

In a combative interview on CNN, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opened the conversation with a throwback claim.

“We had the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on earth,” Kennedy said. When host Dana Bash challenged him, Kennedy doubled down: “What I said was accurate. We had the highest death rate from COVID.”

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A food-borne parasite wreaking havoc on digestive systems has Americans on alert this summer.

A parasite present in water and food contaminated by human excrement is making life miserable for thousands of Americans. The parasite is cyclospora and the illness it causes is cyclosporiasis. Most who contract it can recover without needing treatment, though it can persist for a month or more. (A long time to endure symptoms that include “explosive diarrhea.”)

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Plans are underway to launch a phase 3 trial of an existing Ebola vaccine to fight the ongoing deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO told Healio.

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order recognizing what his administration framed as "gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations" for 11 "core" vaccinations.

The order follows previous steps by the administration to reduce the number of vaccinations a typical American child receives, including a government report published in January that found that kids in the U.S. get more shots than kids in peer nations.

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The 2026 Africa Health Security (AHS) Index was developed with that principle and goal in mind. This independent assessment of health security capacities across Africa provides leaders with evidence so they can direct resources and strengthen resilience against future epidemic and pandemics threats.

To mark the release of the Index, NTI, the Brown University Pandemic Center, Economic Enterprise, and Science for Africa Foundation hosted a discussion to highlight the Index’s findings. The conversation brought together African and global experts who outlined remaining capacity gaps and offered recommendations to advance health security across the continent.

Americans have been frightened for weeks by cyclosporiasis, a sickness with diarrhea-like symptoms caused by a parasite on shredded iceberg lettuce.

Now, with more cases potentially on the horizon, fearful customers are turning to alternative sources of lettuce not hit by the outbreak. One of those providers is Little Leaf Farms in Shirley.

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Hayley Severance, Deputy Vice President, Global Biological Policy and Programs, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), walks us through the newly launched Africa Health Security Index (AHSI): its origin and purpose; its key African and other partners; what it reveals about significant progress in Africa since 2021 (surveillance, countermeasures) and what it reveals about glaring problems (biosafety/biosecurity, finance). The challenge now is to get the AHSI in front of senior African decision makers, and to engage with the Trump administration, among others, at this moment when the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak is raging.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr pulled $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine development last year - the medical community said the U.S. would pay the price in dollars and lives

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The U.S. Senate on Aug. 5 confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, handing the Trump administration a rare win after repeated failed attempts to fill top health posts.

Emerging infectious diseases can pose a serious threat to national health and security.

Experts we convened suggested several ways the federal government could better detect and monitor such threats. For example, they suggested unifying animal and public health efforts because emerging diseases often affect both. They also discussed improving leadership among many partners, and more.

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo is quoted in this article.

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo is quoted in this article.

NPR's A Martinez asks Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University why there have been more measles cases this year so far than in all of last year, and what can be done to stop the resurgence.

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Multiple conflicts ravaging the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are undermining efforts to rein in a worsening Ebola outbreak and risk fueling the spread of both instability and disease beyond the country's borders.

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Africa is significantly better prepared for a pandemic than it was five years ago, a major review of the continent’s health security has found.

The review, which tracked dozens of health metrics across the continent, found that local and international investments in Africa’s health sector since the pandemic have “paid off.”

Published by the Brown University Pandemic Centre and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US non-profit, the report is the third of its kind and provides an update on two previous reviews from 2019 and 2021.

The United States has now recorded more cases of measles in 2026 than in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000, a grim sign that the country may be headed toward a new era in which the disease regularly sickens thousands every year.

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A new Africa-specific health security index finds strong gains in laboratories and disease surveillance since 2021, but biosecurity, biosafety and systems for delivering vaccines and treatments continue to lag.

African countries have spent the past five years building laboratories, expanding disease surveillance and improving outbreak detection. Now, the continent’s first health security assessment cautions that the next stage of preparedness will depend on making those investments safer, better connected and more resilient.

A new Africa Health Security Index released Wednesday found the continent’s average preparedness score has risen nearly 30 percent in five years to 41.5 out of 100, but its biosecurity and biosafety scores remain critically low even as an Ebola outbreak spreads across the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

New Africa Health Security Index reveals how rising threats and health emergencies, including Central Africa’s current Ebola outbreak, could erode progress

Against the backdrop of an Ebola disease outbreak, the new Africa Health Security (AHS) Index, released today, reveals significant gaps in critical health infrastructure despite important progress in health security capacity in recent years.

The world’s capacity to control the disease has improved in the past decade, but only because of dedicated investment and coordination.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now the third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. It will likely pass the second largest, an outbreak in the same region of Congo from 2018 to 2020. Already, the current outbreak has grown past 2,000 cases and to 754 deaths; according to the World Health Organization, it is likely to reach more than 8,000 cases and 1,400 deaths by mid-September. The CDC’s worst-case scenario projects more than 20,000 cases by mid-August.

Washington, D.C., July 16, 2026 — The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the Brown University Pandemic Center and Air Club released today Advancing Healthy Indoor Air: Five Leading Policy Models from Around the World, a new report highlighting a rapidly expanding wave of indoor air quality (IAQ) policy innovation across the globe. Drawing lessons from nearly 160 policies spanning 40 countries, the report identifies five leading policy models that governments are using to improve indoor air quality and offers practical guidance for policymakers seeking to strengthen public health, resilience and economic performance.

NATO Leaders are gathering in Ankara this week to discuss the security challenges facing the world. While they meet, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda are battling what has already become the third-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. The affected areas of the DRC face a profoundly unstable security situation, further complicating the response. This is more than just a humanitarian crisis - it is a stark reminder of the risks that fast-moving biological threats pose to regional stability and global security and resilience.

In May, an outbreak of the Ebola virus was officially declared in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Aid groups are warning that it could become the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

On this episode, Dan Richards spoke with two experts about why this outbreak is uniquely concerning, what the global health community needs to do to respond effectively, and how U.S. international aid policy under the Trump Administration has affected the trajectory of this public health crisis.

The United States knows how to defeat Ebola. A dozen years of bipartisan investment — spanning three administrations and billions of dollars — have built a formidable infrastructure of expertise, countermeasures, and rapid-response capability

Convening under the shadow of the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a real-time reminder of what’s at stake. The message from the outset was sobering. Without proper plans for prevention, countries continue a cycle of panic, scrambling for resources only after a crisis hits.

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Doctors treating Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the symptoms may be milder than in previous outbreaks of the disease

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, highlighted the disastrous impact that the Trump Administration’s dismantling of USAID programs has had on the fight against Ebola.

Not long after Dr. Craig Spencer called a hotline from his New York City apartment to report that he had Ebola symptoms, an ambulance arrived outside his building full of health workers wearing full biohazard suits.

Spencer, 33 at the time, lived on the fifth floor and was recently back from treating Ebola patients in the West African nation of Guinea. For some reason, he wasn’t able to buzz in the responders, but his situation was considered so urgent that the team immediately removed the building's front door and came upstairs.

Infectious disease experts say measles — not Ebola or hantavirus — is the biggest infectious threat to the mega-events that will be held in the Unites States this summer.

Ahead of the World Cup and America's 250th anniversary celebrations, experts warned that the highly contagious measles virus could spread during massive international gatherings in jam-packed stadiums, crowded transit hubs and fan fests.

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In an extraordinary public display of administration infighting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate foreign relations committee on June 2 that he was wresting back control of U.S. contributions to an international vaccine consortium — Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and his anti-vaxxer entourage. It was time, Rubio announced brusquely, to “re-engage” with Gavi, which was established in 2000 and takes the lead in vaccinating roughly 60 percent of the world’s children.

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The Trump administration has imposed some very tough measures in response to the hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, despite the president's past history of criticizing COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic.

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Jennifer Nuzzo and Craig Spencer are both quoted in this article:

WASHINGTON (AP) — While millions of soccer fans cheer or groan over World Cup matches spanning North America, health officials will be on high alert for germs.

A heat wave may be the most obvious health threat. But infectious diseases can spread in a crowd, and experts are set to scrutinize wastewater, hospital visits, even social media for any signs that an outbreak might be brewing.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is among the top concerns, sparking a warning this week from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. With a nearly six-week stretch of packed stadiums, bars and tourist sites in 16 cities, officials are on the lookout for a long list of infections, from the stomach bug norovirus to mosquito-borne dengue fever.

In Kenya today, protests erupted for a second time in as many weeks. Residents are upset about a quarantine facility that the U.S. is setting up in the town of Nanyuki in the central part of the country about 120 miles from the capital, Nairobi.

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest mass gathering event in U.S. history. More than five million tickets have been sold across three countries and 16 cities over 39 days, dwarfing the 3.4 million total attendance at the 2022 World Cup. President Trump championed the hosting bid, created a White House task force for the World Cup that he chairs and accepted FIFA’s inaugural “Peace Prize” at the draw in December. Yet the federal government allocated $625 million for World Cup law enforcement and security, and zero for public health.

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With millions of soccer fans and tourists set to travel to 11 U.S. cities hosting the World Cup in the coming weeks, public health officials are wary of potential risks from infectious diseases, such as the Ebola outbreak racing through Central Africa.

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The Ebola outbreak that's raging in Africa could rival the outbreak that hit West Africa a decade ago, resulting in upwards of 20,000 cases and 4,000 deaths within the next three months alone.

These projections appear in new analyses from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which modeled just how widespread the current outbreak could get.
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An outbreak of Ebola disease is sweeping through Central Africa and it has the World Health Organization very concerned it could spread to other parts of the world. Watch here to learn more and find out What’s Going On.

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